ILOILO CITY – Police arrested two suspected drug pushers and shabu worth more than P3.5 million was seized in a buy-bust operation in Santa Barbara, Iloilo on Saturday, July 29.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-6 identified the suspects as live-in partners Salvador Hinolan Ruiz, 33, and Vanessa Tingson Buison, 36, both from this city.
The couple had been temporarily staying in a boarding house in Barangay Zone 4 for several days.
After residents saw people going in and out of the boarding house, they alerted authorities who mapped out the operation backed by the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Suspects yielded a total of 515 grams of suspected shabu.
Ruiz was freed from the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City last year while Buison had also been released for a drug-related case.
The Police Regional Office-6 lauded the PDEA-6 Alpha and Bravo Special Enforcement Teams, PDEA-Iloilo Provincial Office, and Santa Barbara Municipal Police Station for arresting the suspects.
“The inter-agency joint effort made this anti-drug operation highly successful,” said Police Brig. Gen. Sidney Villaflor, PRO-6 director.
Suspects face charges for violation of Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.